Cryptocurrency world was shocked to see the tremendous plunge faced by the top ten cryptocurrencies this week. All the cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, Ripple, and Litecoin experienced major drop prices. Some crypto analysts called this as "cryptocurrency bloodbath".Bitcoin price experienced a two-digit drop falling from $6,721 to $6,623 a fall of $98.

Although crypto guru's cannot point out just a single reason for the massive drop in the price of cryptocurrencies, most of the sources and analysts are pointing the fingers towards Asian markets for being the main root of the cause.  Three major reasons are cited by the crypto market analysts;

Following breaking news from India and Japan; Japan’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer said it would restrict taking up new business after the regulators blamed it wasn't performing good enough to eradicate money laundering and terrorist financing. This regulation led to the drop in the price of cryptocurrency; the Secondary reason is; Indian bank's plan to terminate the accounts of the crypto companies. The third reason being the recent South Korean crypto exchange, Bithumb exchange hacking.

Japan’s Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange Suspend New Accounts

The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in Japan, bitFlyer announced the suspension of registering new accounts to update its anti-money laundering and know your customer system. The digital currency exchange is trying to improve its client management system on regulation from the Financial Services Agency. The value of bitcoin dropped by more than 5 percentage on Friday. The prices of other major cryptocurrencies are also under pressure after the direction given by Japanese financial regulator.

In the recent past, the Japanese government revealed that it has requested five registered and licensed cryptocurrency exchanges in the country including bitFlyer and Quoine to repair their internal systems. Numerous errors were detected in the internal management systems of the exchanges that handle money laundering prevention and transaction monitoring.

On June 22, bitFlyer suspended new account registrations and maintained its internal management system to fix its AML and KYC processes. Oldest newspaper in Japan Mainichi Shimbun, revealed that Yakuza, the country’s biggest crime syndicate with over 100,000 members, claimed hundreds of millions of dollars were laundered through major cryptocurrency exchanges.

India’s top cryptocurrency exchange is urging users to withdraw funds

Zebpay, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, with a trading volume of more than $8.4 million announced that the exchange is terminating the accounts of crypto companies and halting all dealings of virtual currencies, following new rules issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

The country's regulators are forcing the country to adopt extreme measures. The exchange has requested all its customers to withdraw their Indian Rupee (INR) funds from the exchange. They have also revealed that the exchange will continue transaction of cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency trading on the platform will continue, but it can’t promise the same for trading against the Indian Rupee.

The exchange stated, “As a responsible corporation, we regard customer-protection and market-integrity as our primary objectives. In light of that, please note that if Zebpay bank accounts are disrupted, rupee deposits and withdrawals will become impossible,” the exchange said in an announcement. “This can cause discontinuation of crypto trade based on rupees, or at least cause significant price movements. This is something you should keep in mind if you choose to hold rupees in your Zebpay account.”

The exchange also warned its users that if they hold INR in their Zebpay account in spite of the exchange’s repeated warnings — it can’t be held accountable if they end up losing their funds.

Coincheck, CoinRail, Bithumb hacks

In addition to the major reasons mentioned, the Coincheck, CoinRail, and Bithumb Hacks also aided the drop in the price of cryptocurrencies over the past week.

Yesterday, Bill Baruch, President of Blue Line Futures, told CNBC bitcoin's "bottoming process can begin" following signs that volatility is "depressed" and that "selling has become exhausted".

Luis Carranza, founder of London Fintech Week has responded by telling Express.co.uk that crypto has come a long way in 2018 and there are plenty of reasons to be "optimistic".

He said, "Crypto is unpredictable. There are massive spikes and drops. $4500 could be the bottom, but there is nothing preventing $2500 from being the bottom. Likewise, as crypto becomes more mainstream the price tends to rise. Even if the price drops to $1000 there's nothing preventing another surge to $14,000."

Cryptocurrency Prices Today

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $6,333.52, down 5.72% over a past 24 hour period.

Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $478.38, down 10.26% over a 24 hour period.

EOS decline 12.34% over the past 24 hours, now trading at $9.16.

Ripple (XRP) is trading at $0.5055, down 5.38% over a 24 hour period.

Litecoin (LTC) is trading at $88.42, down 8.58% over a 24-hour period.

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